Wirral primary school forced to say sorry after banning girl from play because she uses a wheelchair

Annie Burns with her parents Lorraine and Chris. Annie has spina bifida and her parents have won a disability discrimination case against her daughter's primary school

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A SCHOOL was forced to apologise to an 11-year-old Wirral girl who was stopped from joining her friends on stage during a school play because she uses a wheelchair.

The tribunal victory could now have wider implications across the borough after the local education authority said it uses cases such as this to review advice to schools.

Annie Burns’ parents Chris and Lorraine said they took Heswall Primary school to a tribunal after teachers refused to apologise to their daughter, who has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair much of the time.

The row erupted after Annie’s father Chris, 63, offered to help the school find a way for his daughter to be able to take part in the end of year play, which was the last before she left to go to secondary school.

But he said the school never took up the offer and chose instead to make his daughter stay off the stage, along with a handful of other pupils.

The case was brought against the governing body of Heswall Primary and the school has now been ordered to say sorry to Annie, revise its disability discrimination policies and train staff.

But Annie’s parents said this had not been the first time they had found themselves unhappy with the way their daughter was treated, and Lorraine, 49, said her daughter “would never say anything bad about anyone” and it was often friends who told them of problems.

Chris said: “Before the hearing the judge asked [the school] if they would apologise and avoid a judgement against them but they refused.” He said when Annie had to give evidence she became very upset.

He added: “We never went for compensation because we felt that would belittle the case.”

In his judgement Hugh Brayne said the school had insisted Annie was not on the stage for “artistic reasons” and “this decision had no connection with Annie’s disability”.

Judge Brayne said Annie was “not entitled to special treatment, and this claim is not about such expectations”.

He said the school’s failure was it “tried to treat Annie just like all the other children” and then found itself struggling when faced with the realities of putting on the performance.

Judge Brayne said he did “not wish our decision to be too harshly received” by the school, which “believed at all times it was doing the right thing” but “lacked training, policies and procedures”.

Julia Hassall, director of childrens services at Wirral council, said: “We take our responsibilities around equality issues very seriously and the advice we give to schools remains under constant review to reflect changes in legislation or as a result of cases in which we may be involved.”

Heswall Primary school said they would not make any comment over and above the one provided by the council.